Benin: Port of Cotonou

PPP Brief

Image by Pixabay

Ce résultat encourageant est le fruit de quatre années d’activités visant à relever les défis auxquels le secteur est confronté. Le Gouvernement béninois par le biais du Ministère de l’Eau (MERPMEDER) a mis en œuvre ces activités en partenariat avec le WSP, l’IFC et l’ambassade des Pays-Bas. Le renforcement de la professionnalisation des services d’approvisionnement en eau dans les petites villes passe par les étapes suivantes :

• concevoir un modèle de PPP adapté aux réalités locales ;

The project, designed as a pilot program, complemented WSP’s ongoing sector sup- port in the country. Ten pilot rural water supply systems were selected in three dif- ferent municipalities across the country and grouped into four clusters of two to three systems each. Each of the four clus- ters was tendered as a separate transac- tion by the respective municipalities. The tender process led to the award of four eight-year concession agreements for the design, partial financing, rehabilitation, extension, and operation of the 10 rural water systems to three winning bidders.

Over the past decade, the Government of Benin has made great strides to professionalize the management of piped water systems (PWS) in rural areas and small towns. Since 2007, the sector actively supported the implementation of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts for operating PWS. The sector introduced an affermage-type PPP model to connect decentralized municipalities and small-scale private operators (POs). The number of PWS managed through an affermage contract went from 1 in 2007 to 269 (57% of the total number of PWS) in 2014.

Procuring Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships 2020 is designed to help governments improve their PPP regulatory quality. By benchmarking the regulatory frameworks of economies around the world against internationally recognized good practices in procuring PPPs, this assessment identifies areas for improvement in the preparation, procurement, and management of PPPs.

The objective of the present case study is to extract lessons from these pilots and the reforms implemented by the GoB for improving the sustainability of rural water services. These lessons are relevant for stakeholders involved in Benin rural water supply as well as for an international audience seeking to improve the delivery of water services in rural areas and small towns in other countries.

In Benin, rural water systems had historically been operated by local communities, with varying degrees of success. In 2006, the Government of Benin (GoB) began to transfer the management of these water systems to private operators, under a lease/affermage arrangement to connect decentralized municipalities and small-scale private operators (POs). The number of piped water systems (PWS) managed through an affermage contract went from one in 2007 to 269 in 2014.

Rules for PPP implementation are codified in the Private-Public Partnership Law of 11 October, 2016. 

Image by Pixabay

The support Cell for PPPs, La Cellule d'Appui au Partenariat Public Privé, CAPPP.